2.1 Scoring, Attempts, and Retakes

2.1 Scoring, Attempts, and Retakes

Quick Answer: Colorado posts NNAAP results as pass/fail in the Credentia Platform, generally within hours. The handbook does not publish a written cut score. Standard candidates get three attempts and retake only the failed part; E3 and E4 candidates get only one attempt.

Passing the Colorado nurse aide examination is not a single number on a page. The National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) used in Colorado has two independently scored parts — the Written (or Oral) Examination and the Skills Evaluation — and you must pass both before the Colorado Board of Nursing can certify you. This section is about how you see those results, what a fail report actually shows, how many attempts you have, and what it costs to try again.

Why scoring rules matter

A candidate who treats the written examination like a school test that reports a percentage will misread the official result. A candidate who assumes every eligibility route gets three tries can lose the entire application after one fail on an E3 or E4 path. And a candidate who no-shows or lets the clock run can be forced back into a full training program even after passing one part. The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) Board of Nursing will not issue a certified nurse aide (CNA) certificate until both parts are passed inside the application window.

/practice/co-cnaPractice questions with detailed explanations

Where official results appear

Credentia posts official results in the Credentia Platform, the same account you used to apply and schedule. Results generally appear within hours after the examination. They are not given by phone and they are not sent to employers. If a result is still missing after 24 hours, call Credentia Colorado at 888-204-6249. You are asking the vendor to locate a posting, not to read a numeric score over the phone.

Keep the login you used on application day. Family members, facilities, and instructors cannot pull your result from Credentia. Employers who want proof that you are allowed to work must wait for Board-issued certification and then use the public license lookup — that process is covered in the next section. A screenshot from the Platform is useful for your own records; it is not a license and it is not an employer notification.

Written (or oral) results: pass or fail only

The current Colorado Credentia handbook reports the written (or oral) examination as pass or fail. It does not publish a raw cut score, a required percentage, or a minimum number of correct answers. Do not memorize a "70 percent" or "80 percent" passing line from an old blog, a classmate, or another state's handbook. Those figures are not official Colorado scoring rules.

The written examination includes pretest items that do not count toward the result. You will not be told which items were pretest. You also will not receive an item-by-item knowledge report that lists every missed written question. The official message is pass or fail.

The oral examination, if you selected it at registration, is scored the same way for eligibility: you either pass that knowledge part or you do not. A fail on the oral examination is a fail of the knowledge part. It is not a separate third examination, and it does not give you a hidden extra attempt.

Skills results and the failing report

The Skills Evaluation assigns five skills. You must receive Satisfactory on all five. One Unsatisfactory skill fails the entire skills part, even if the other four were strong.

If you fail skills, the failing report lists each of the five skills as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory and identifies missed step numbers. Use that list as a study map. The missed-step numbers tell you which actions the evaluator marked incorrect; they do not give you permission to skip those steps on a retake. Critical element steps — the bold steps on the handbook skill sheets — still have to be performed correctly, and you still need enough remaining steps to pass that skill.

A skills pass is not posted as a percentage either. The official record is Satisfactory on each of the five assigned skills. If Hand Hygiene was Unsatisfactory, the whole skills part is a fail, because Hand Hygiene is one of the five skills you must pass.

Attempts, retakes, and who must start over

For standard candidates, Colorado allows three attempts. You retake only the failed part after a first or second fail. If you passed written and failed skills, you schedule skills only. If you passed skills and failed written, you schedule written (or oral) only. You do not voluntarily reopen the part you already passed unless a reset rule forces you to retake both.

Two events force a full reset for standard candidates:

• You fail either part three times.
• You are scheduled three times without becoming licensed, whether those dates ended in a fail or an absence.

In either case you must complete a new state-approved nurse aide training program and then retake both parts — even the part you previously passed. "I already have a written pass" does not survive a three-fail or three-schedule reset.

E3 (nursing or psychiatric technician students who were never licensed) and E4 (LPN, RN, or LPT applicants using a license or transcript) are different. The Colorado handbook states that those routes have only one attempt. If you fail, you must complete a state-approved nurse aide training program and reapply under eligibility route E0. Do not assume you can pay another fee and sit a second time on the same E3 or E4 application.

The 24-month clock and no-shows

You must pass both parts within 24 months from the date Credentia receives the application. The clock starts on receipt, not on the day you finally sit for the first part. A long delay between training completion and the first test date burns the same window as a retake.

Two no-shows remove the application. After that you must re-apply. A no-show is not a free unused attempt you can ignore. Combined with the "scheduled three times without becoming licensed" rule, missed dates are expensive. Arrive, bring the required identification, and cancel inside the published window if you cannot sit. An unexcused absence still occupies a scheduled attempt.

Retake fees

Fees are not refundable. Current Colorado Credentia single-part retake fees are:

The combined first-time Written + Skills or Oral + Skills package is $145. After a partial pass you should not pay the combined package again unless you have been forced to retake both parts after retraining. Paying $145 for a skills-only retake does not buy you an extra written attempt you do not need.

Colorado scenario

Maya completed an approved Colorado program on route E1 and passed the written examination in March. She failed skills because the failing report marked Hand Hygiene and Catheter Care Unsatisfactory and listed missed step numbers on both. She should schedule a skills-only retake and pay $95, then drill the missed step numbers until she can perform every marked step in order. She should not call 888-204-6249 expecting a numeric written score, and she should not tell a hospital recruiter that Credentia will fax a percentage that afternoon. If she later fails skills a second and third time, or if she is scheduled three times and still is not licensed, she must complete a new state-approved program and retake both parts.

Compare that with Jordan, an E4 applicant using an expired LPN license. Jordan fails the written examination once. Under the handbook, that is the only attempt on the E4 route. Jordan cannot buy a $50 written retake on the same eligibility. Jordan must retrain and reapply under eligibility route E0.

Common traps

• Treating a classmate's "I needed 70 percent" story as the official Colorado cut score.
• Assuming E3 and E4 candidates get the same three attempts as E1 graduates.
• Believing a first skills fail requires you to retake the written part immediately.
• Ignoring no-shows because you never sat, so it should not count.
• Waiting for Credentia or the Board to notify your employer.

Memorize the posting rules, the three-attempt versus one-attempt split, the both-parts reset, the 24-month receipt clock, and the $50 / $50 / $95 retake fees. Those are the facts the Colorado handbook actually publishes.